The Clarke family in Ballina have been synonymous with wild Irish salmon since Jackie Clarke first set up business in Ballina in 1945. A family business, now managed by Jack’s son John Clarke, ensures that the traditional values from which it started are maintained and carried on.
Blessed with the river Moy close by, Clarke’s seafood business had a plentiful supply of wild salmon. The tables of Ballina’s residents were well served by wild salmon from Clarke’s. Indeed, contact with fish markets in Dublin and beyond were established and fresh wild salmon was shipped to Billingsgate, Liverpool and Manchester.
The Clarke family in Ballina have been synonymous with wild Irish salmon since Jackie Clarke first set up business in Ballina in 1945. A family business, now managed by Jack’s son John Clarke, ensures that the traditional values from which it started are maintained and carried on.
Blessed with the river Moy close by, Clarke’s seafood business had a plentiful supply of wild salmon. The tables of Ballina’s residents were well served by wild salmon from Clarke’s. Indeed, contact with fish markets in Dublin and beyond were established and fresh wild salmon was shipped to Billingsgate, Liverpool and Manchester.
Share the Magic & Tradition of Clarke’s Oak Smoked Irish Wild Salmon
The move into salmon smoking was a natural progression and one which proved popular with tourists and locals alike. The smokery is located in Ballina’s main thoroughfare and in close proximity to the River Moy. Given the prolificacy of the salmon catches on the Moy a ready supply of the finest salmon was at hand for smoking.
Nowadays, with the decline in the numbers of wild salmon, Clarkes have used their expertise with the more sustainable Organic salmon, farmed off the West coast of Ireland. As a result, Clarkes received two awards at the 8th Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards; Bronze for Irish Organic smoked salmon, and Silver for Barbecued Organic Salmon.
The smoking process has been refined over the years but the process is still the traditional one. Jackie has handed the secrets of the preparation of salmon smoking down to his sons. The recipe for succulent smoked salmon means close consideration is given to the duration of the curing, drying and smoking process. Real oak wood shavings are used, and the salmon are slow smoked over these delivering on Clarke’s unique wholesome taste of Irish smoked salmon.
Additional lines with a gourmet theme were added in recent years, and they now live up to the reputation that Clarke’s Great Taste award winning Wild Irish smoked salmon established. Including, Irish Food Awards winning Organic smoked and barbecued salmon.
Today, John Clarke, with a wealth of salmon smoking and customer service experience behind him, still delivers a consistent taste of smoked salmon to customers throughout the world.
The Clarke family can assure you of their personal attention to your requirements and endeavour to deliver only the best product available – to your satisfaction. Not a difficult job given that we benefit from over 70 years experience!
Find out for yourself what makes Clarke’s traditional oak smoked salmon different and start a taste journey founded on traditional family values!
Clarkes Salmon Smokery are delighted to anounce that we have received two awards at the 8th Blas na hEireann (Taste of Ireland) Irish Food Awards. These awards are the biggest blind tasting competition of quality Irish produce in Ireland, and the criteria on which the product is judged as well as the judging system itself, which was developed by Blas na hEireann with the Food Science Dept of UCC, is now recognised as an international industry standard.
We won Silver for our Organic Barbecued Salmon
We won Bronze for our Organic Smoked Salmon
With over 60 years of experience which began in 1945 with Jackie Clarke the Clarke family have created a treasure in their oak smoked wild salmon. The combination of the oak wood chippings and an emphasis on the drying of the salmon after curing produces a quality of taste that is difficult to surpass. A truly brillant flavour and texture that rewards one’s taste curiosity and guaranteed to make you want more.
